Can the tenant let other people live in the property?

I rent my apartment to a tenant who is a student,it’s on the lease the occupant is one adult.PM emailed me yesterday said the tenant wanna go back overseas and his lease won’t expire until Jianista next year ,so he already let his friends living in the apartment and his friends will start paying the rent.Does he have the right just handle the keys to his friends?the tenant didn’t say anything about it only the day before he left Australia and we know nothing about his friends.No reference check ,no financial statement.I’m not very comfortable about this,how should I handle this?thanks

 

What did your PM say? What are you paying them for?

 

It is common for students to be sharing the place with friends/strangers, i.e. 2 bedroom with 2 adults or an adult and couple (3 adults).

The legal responsibility lies with the head tenant, who in basic understanding thinks paying the rent and keeping the unit tidy is the only responsibility. Much more involved.. but for simplicity sake..

I've been on both sides of the fence in my younger years and now as the owner.
As the owner, I would expect the PM to be on top of things when routine inspections were carried out, and question why there are 2 or 3 beds when only 1 person is on the lease, if the owner permitted 3 adults to reside, then not an issue as all parties are on the same page.

As for handing the responsibility ensure the PM quality checks the incoming tenant, finances etc and condition of the unit prior to the tenant change. I can't stress the importance of this as the incoming tenant is assuming the condition as acceptable.

 

PM just forwarded the tenant’s email to me and was asking me what I would like to doI guess I paid him for just collect the rent

 

Thanks for your reply
My PM run the inspection yearly .this tenant just moved in for three month and he never told us he let his friends living in there with him.So basically the tenant can just let anyone live in that apartment?I called my PM he said we can’t evict the tenant just because he let others living there.

 

Thanks.it’s a one bedroom apartment.I talked to my PM today,I told him to ask other people to leave but we wouldn’t know if the tenant let his friends living in there again later.I’m not happy about how he handle this,didn’t give me any suggestions just keep forwarding the tenants email and ask me what to do

 

Thanks.it’s in Sydney.that’s what I thought ,whoever lives in the property needs go on the lease.It’s on the lease only one adult allowed living there.

 

The PM needs to do reference checks on every person living in the property who is not current a leaseholder. They are currently in (serious) breach of the agreement, so there's some incentive to cooperate.

I also agree, why would the PM ask you what you want to do? This is a very clear process. They should have sent you an FYI email to let you know what had happened and advise that they were in the process of checking the new occupants, along with some information about what happens if the occupants fail to provide documentation or are unsatisfactory tenants.

 

Thanks Tom.The PM didn’t check other occupants ,so I’m correct the tenant has break the lease cause it’s on the lease only one adult.I told the PM to terminate the agency agreement and ask them move out,but PM said we couldn’t ask the tenant out just because he let other people stay.

 

What your PM has told you is absolute rubbish.

More people ordinarily living at the unit than is allowed as per the lease is a clear breach of the lease.

What the hell is your PM doing? Does s/he know what s/he is doing? I'd escalate to the director/principal of the business and hopefully s/he has some sort of clue about managing tenancies.

 

Why is the PM so against doing the usual reference checks on these people? This is such a straightforward process.

 

This has been discussed many times previously.

Proving someone is living in a property as opposed to having someone staying at a property is very difficult.

 

Time to fire your PM and tell them whatever happen in this particular situation, they will be liable.

 

I had an issue with damage done to a property, because the tenant let the person into the home and this person was not on the lease, terry scheer would not cover the damages. Something to consider.

 

Does it state on their PDS that people that are not on the lease aren't covered ?

 

The property manager is obviously incompetent, however, one can never be certain of the full story.

A tenant moving out is clear cut grounds for end of lease and it appears the tenant has advised the PM of their intending departure. It would appear that the onus is now on the PM to treat it as a break lease and act accordingly.

I read so many comments saying this and that and what the PM should or shouldn’t do, so I pose the following hypothetical situation to any PMs.

“There is someone staying in a property that is probably not on the lease. They could be friends or relatives visiting, couch surfing or they could even be longer term peoples living at the property. They are not necessarily causing a problem.”

So, Property Managers how do you establish that this is not a partner staying over, a friend visiting briefly or a person that is now living at the property. And, if you can actually establish that they are not a visitor how do you effectively evict such a person.

 

Whats the fire rules for the place? A one bedroom apartment I imagine can only keep 2 people max for building fire safety? Depending on Strata as well, this may be against the building agreement they probably had to sign on entry?